This week we have the beautiful, but extremely capable, 2023 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X. To summarize this truck, it is a luxury off-roader, built for those who want to be able to leave the pavement, but also have a really nice truck as a daily driver.
As you walk around the refined exterior in Deep Bronze, you see the big GMC grill, tow hooks, LED headlights taillights and fog lamps, 18” wheels and beefy Goodyear Wrangler tires. It has a factory 2” lift kit for clearance.
Under the hood is the 6.2 V8 that is putting on 420-horses and a strong 460-pound feet of torque. It is mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission that has shift paddles.
As you enter the spacious cabin, the interior is luxurious. The seats are comfortable, they are heated and cooled, and they will massage you. Beautiful stitching is everywhere, and all materials are soft to the touch.
From the driver’s seat, you see a large 12.3” gauge cluster that is colorful and easy to read. There is a configurable driver info center that you scroll through from the steering wheel that offers up a lot of information.
The AT4X has a huge 13.4-inch touchscreen that sits on the dash. It operates the 12-speaker Bose sound system, Bluetooth, navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and Google Assistant.
A swipe to the left gives you the trailer towing settings, climate, vehicle settings, Wi-Fi Hotspot, and more. You can configure the buttons as you wish and add or delete them as you choose.
Under that are A/C controls, and a row of buttons that will do many things, most notable is to turn on the lane assist, activate the parking assist, turn off the start/stop system, lower the tailgate, and buttons to lock-in the front axle or both axles if you get into some really tough terrain.
Under that, you can charge your cell phone, there is a T-handle shifter and a couple of cup holders. Your elbows will rest on a deep but very soft center console that also houses USB and USB-C ports.
Moving to the second row of seating, there is tremendous leg and headroom, the seat is heated, there are air conditioner vents, a fold down armrest with cup holders, and USB and USB-C ports. The seats fold up from the bottom for additional storage and there is storage built into the back of the rear seats, a nice touch.
This Sierra ATX4 has all the popular comfort and safety features you want including power tilt and heated steering wheel, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, blind spot warning, remote start, rear seat reminder, a power moon roof, rear camera mirror, a head-up display, and trailer towing package.
My tester also has the AEV package which is equipped by American Expedition Vehicles and they provide stamped front and rear bumpers, Boron steel skid plates, and Salta wheels. This package is $6,895 and honestly I would pass on it unless you are going to do some very serious off-roading, but that’s just me.
It also has GMC’s famous MultiPro tailgate. It drops down, then folds down to form a step, it has a grab handle to help you in, and it has Kicker speakers built-into the tailgate for your outdoor or stadium parties. There is also a 120-volt power outlet back there.
MPG and What You'll Pay
Fuel economy is 14 in town 17 on the highway, and 15 overall. MSRP on this one is $90,935 with every feature available except GM’s Super Cruise.
As I mentioned earlier, this truck will do anything off-road you want it to, yet you feel like you are in a luxury vehicle and this combination works very well for me. Just a warning, unless you are taller than 6’2 or so, this truck is going to be challenging to get in or out of. It has rock sliders on the sides between the wheels for protection, normally where running boards would be.